Chelsea Agree Deal With Atletico Madrid On Alvaro Morata

The Blues striker is closing in on a move back to his hometown as he looks to escape his Stamford Bridge nightmare.

Chelsea have reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid to allow Alvaro Morata to leave on loan, with the Liga club having a £48.5 million ($62m) option to sign the striker on a permanent basis, Goal understands.

Morata had already reached an agreement with Atletico Madrid over his personal terms last week and he is willing to accept a lower contract than his current £120,000 per week Chelsea deal upon the activation of an option to buy.

Offloading the 26-year-old striker is also a major step in Chelsea's bid to take over AC Milan's loan deal for Gonzalo Higuain, with the Blues having already reached an agreement with the Argentine forward's parent club Juventus.

Like Morata, Higuain has been left out of his team's latest match, with Milan due to play Genoa on Monday, after Chelsea agreed a six-month loan deal with an option to extend it or sign the striker outright for £32.5 million ($42m).

They will also pay Juventus on the basis of appearances, goals and season's achievements over the six-month period that they are loaning Higuain for.

Genoa's Krzysztof Piatek is set to replace Higuain at the San Siro and a £35m ($45m) deal is expected to be reached in the next 48 hours, according to the selling club's sporting director Giorgio Perinetti.

"After today's match against Milan, we will meet them and reach an agreement in the next 48 hours, whether he leaves or not," said Perinetti. "We spoke with Gazidis and Leonardo for two hours and we still need to evaluate the counterparts in the deal.

"This is why the deal has not been finalised yet as we need to analyse whether it will be functional for our transfer market session."

The movement of strikers across Europe is part of a bigger picture as major clubs look to ensure they are not left without a reliable forward option for the rest of the season.

This is what has led to Michy Batshuayi's proposed loan move being held up, as Chelsea look to explore opportunities to cash in, with a £40m ($51m) valuation being placed on the Belgium international, who endured a disappointing first half of the season on loan at Valencia.